Pflueger Medalist 1595 Rc Fly Fishing Reel

Pflueger Medalist 1492 Fly Reel
Pflueger Medalist 1595 Rc Fly Fishing Reel Parts
Pflueger Medalist Fly Reels History
Pflueger Medalist 1595 Rc Fly Fishing Reels
Pflueger Medalist Fly Reel 1494

An Angler's Guide To The Classic Pflueger Medalist

Pflueger Medalist 1494 1495 1496 1498 & 15xx Fly Fishing Reel - How To Convert From Right to Left Hand Retrieve. I had a buddy ask me how do I convert my Pfl.
VINTAGE PFLUEGER- MEDALIST 1495 Diamond Lite Line Guard FLY FISHING Reel LINE WEIGHT 4/5 Single Action FLY FISHING Reel MADE in AKRON OH. You are bidding on a Vintage“PFLUEGER MEDALIST MODEL NO 1495” Single Action Fly Reel. Some wear but it’s in Good Cosmetic and Working shape in all for a reel made post 1970.
I have just purchased a Pflueger 1494 reel which I plan to fish with a rod that enjoys a DT 6 floating line. I need about 50 meters of 20lb backing to be on this reel behind the DT 6 floater. Is this the right model or should I rather have gone for the 1494 1/2 reel.

Part One - 1930 to 1958

Article and Photographs by Joe Cornwall

I've been a Pflueger Medalist fly reel fan for as long as I've been able to hold a fly rod. A Medalist was my first fly reel, purchased for me by my grandfather all those many years ago. It was a 1494DA and I still have it. Since those early days I've gone on to fish Medalists in fresh water and salt and in every size from the petite 1492 to the hefty 1498. Along the way I've learned a lot about the personality of this iconic piece of gear. It's a simple design, capable of performance far beyond that which its modest parts would suggest.

The Pflueger Medalist fly reel has been a centerpiece of the fly fishing community for nearly 90 years now. The simple design and nearly flawless performance lets this reel cross the line from tool to icon.

Pflueger Medalist 1595 Rc Fly Fishing Reel

As popular as the Medalist is for fishermen and collectors alike, one would think that getting accurate and detailed information about servicing and maintaining this reel would be an easy click away. Over the years I've found that there is some great information on the Internet about this and other classic reels, but there isn't one place where it's all been brought together. Until now. In this series of articles we'll explore the history and evolution of the Pflueger Medalist. We'll look at variations in construction from the earliest models to the present. We'll compare and contrast the in-hand performance of vintage and contemporary versions and examine line-size applications and capacity. We'll see what makes them tick and we'll explore, in detail, what needs to be done to convert a reel from right-hand-wind to left-hand-wind and to keep it running for years to come.

Pflueger has a long and interesting history. In 1881, Earnest Pflueger established the Enterprise Manufacturing Company in Akron, Ohio, with the goal of producing and distributing hooks, lures and fishing tackle. Earnest enlisted the help of his brothers Joe, William and and Charles and, over the next several decades, the family founded a strong business, primarily as a manufacturer of fishing hooks. Dragon naturally speaking does it run well on parallels for mac. By 1916 Earnest A. Pflueger, son of the founding Pflueger, would take over the family business, rename it, and build it into the dominant and diversified American fishing tackle company which it would remain for the next half century.

Pflueger Medalist 1492 Fly Reel

The Pflueger company applied for a patent for a fly reel design in October 1928 and was granted the patent in September of 1930. The patent was filed by Charles Pflueger and was for ornamental decoration of a fly reel design — the iconic round line guard and other elements. The Medalist name made its debut in the Pflueger 1931 catalog, but it would be a few more years before the reel would take on the characteristics that would come to define the recognized Medalist with adjustable drag topology. It wasn't until 1938 that the adjustable drag was added. Prior to the award of this patent, the earliest Medalists featured a click-pawl drag and a 'cage' spool arbor. These early reels are prized collector items and sell for amounts that really preclude their consideration as ordinary fishing reels.

These early reels were available in three sizes; small, medium and large. We now know them as the 1492, 1494 and 1496 respectively. All featured the now classic round line guard and were designed as right-hand-wind reels. Several generations ago almost all fishing reels were right-hand-wind; it wasn't until the spinning reel exploded on the scene after World War II that using the left hand to crank the handle became fashionable. Because there were left handed anglers in the market, there was a series of reels made that were left-hand-wind. Of course these sold in minute quantities, proportional to the percentage of lefty's in the general population. These reels were known as the 1392, 1394 and 1396 and are currently so rare (and expensive when they do come to market) that they are of no concern to the angler or casual collector. There also was a series of Medalists that were, for lack of a better term, 'ambidextrous' They didn't have the round line guard at all. They were the 1592, 1594 and 1596. In an interesting aside, the 15xx model numbers would be revisited in the 1990's when Pflueger released a modification of the Medalist design that featured a palming rim on the spool. The new reels are essentially drag-enabled 14xx series reels with a different (and completely interchangeable) spool and bear no functional relationship to these very early click-and-pawl designs.

Of the click-pawl reels, only the tiny 1492 and its wide-body brother the 1492½ remain in circulation in sufficient numbers to be readily available. They are also currently manufactured and available as new. There are a number of minor variances to all the Pflueger Medalist reels that were excellently documented by Richard Komar in his article Pflueger Medalist Reels - A History. Komar's article is a great resource to help identify the age of a particular Medalist permutation. Let's start this adventure by taking a closer look at a couple of the variations in the click-pawl line-up.

I sold and used the old Pflueger ‘Medalist’ fly reels for over 40 years now. Actually we don’t sell them anymore but you can get very nice old ones on eBay, fly fishing classifieds and at garage sales. At one time they were the standard fly reel for most fly fishers in the USA.

My first new ones were bought locally around Sacramento, California in the 1960s. I think I bought a new ’1494′ from Thrifty’s Drug in south Sacramento for $14.88. It was set up for left hand crank and had a plastic drag disc and I think 6 rivets holding the three peice spool together. I converted it to right hand crank because I thought it felt better. This was put on a new Fenwich FF805 2 piece fiberglass fly rod for trout.

My next new one was a ’1495″ that I put on a Fenwich FF85 which was an 8’6″ #6/7/8 line fiberglass fly rod for light Steelheading.

We use some big 1498 models for holding demo lines for large saltwater fly rods and Spey rods.

If you can find old ones that have not been “used up” they are a nice fly reel

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Pflueger Medalist 1595 Rc Fly Fishing Reel Parts

We also had Hardy nickel silver counter balances we installed in the Medalist in the 70s and 80s so we could go for Steelhead and Bonefish with them.

I sold product from a small company that made after market parts for the Medalists. The ‘One-Pfoot’ company made accessory for the Medalist that were machined aluminum foot assembly, drag discs and counter balances. The ‘One-Pfoot’ company has many after market parts for the Medalists.

In the ’80s Pflueger went to metric screws. I called Shakespeare who bought the company and they said we did not need those SAE frame screws anymore. That really pissed me off. Today we really don’t need many of the screws but I think you can get them from One Pfoot.

The Medalists are all but gone from the scene today. We only see a few every season now. I still like to fish with some of my old ones.

Years ago I use to install dozens of screws in them every summer for customers. They would vibrate out. We put head cement on the screw heads to keep them from coming loose and falling out. Today we would use Loctite to hold them in.

I have a collection of old Medalists that are just for memories now.

I have an old ’1495 ½’ that I bought used. It was built in the 1940s. All metal parts with and round line guard and 6 rivets on the spool. I landed a 40 pound Tarpon on an 8 weight rod at the Rio Chico lagoons in Venezuela with it in 1985.

With the same reel I was ‘spooled’ (~150 yard of backing to the end) wading at Christmas Island by a rather large Bonefish in 1986.

I caught big Steelhead with it on the Dean River in British Columbia in 1983.

I caught big Rainbows in New Zealand with it in the late 1980s.

They used them at the Fenwick Fly Fishing schools in the 60s/70s so many of them are still around. Mel Krieger and many of his friends have them still. They called me years back for the Voss brass drag disc and Hardy counter balances.

**They made the Pflueger ‘Supreme’ anti-reverse big game models in two sizes too with a solid machined aluminum spool and disc drag.

I am sure I could clean and lube mine up that are here on the shelf and go catch anything on them.

Pflueger Medalist parts:

Pflueger Medalist Fly Reels History

Bill Archuleta has the number one fly reel parts and repair business in the world. Call or email Bill for any help you need with any older fly reels. Bill’s specialty is old Hardy fly reels made in England but I believe he will work on most anything.

The One-Pfoot Company has lots of good after market parts for Pflueger Medalists.

Feel free to contact me for any help as well.

Pflueger Medalist 1595 Rc Fly Fishing Reels

Bill Kiene

Kiene’s American Fly Fishing Company

Sacramento, CA

Pflueger Medalist Fly Reel 1494

1-800-400-0359 USA toll free

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